He experienced sexual dysfunction in his early 20s as a result of taking the hair loss preventative Propecia. You wouldn't notice it on the tall, lean Tsetis, now 30, whose hair has a healthy sheen and thickness to it, but there was once a time when he was going bald.

He was at the peak of any young model's career, one that took him from his hometown of Amsterdam to the runways of London, New York and Italy. It was prime time for getting it on. But one thing stood in his way: hair loss.

While actively booking jobs for Vogue Italia, posing for Steven Meisel and working for the high fashion brands Armani, Versace and John Galliano, he found that his hair started falling out in clumps.

"It's common in men's modeling and a very big concern," he tells Mashable. "There's isn't even a handful of models who hair is receding, so to have a full set of hair is a prerequisite in landing any job."

The breaking point came when he was on a shoot and a makeup artist had to fill in Tsetis' forehead because of his steadily receding hairline.

After intense research, the then-21-year old decided he'd take Propecia, the FDA-approved drug that curbs baldness by preventing the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, or DHT, in the body. There are potential major side effects, including sexual dysfunction.

To salvage his career, Tsetis took the drug for the next six years. While his hair was intact and growing thicker by the day, something else turned limp. He noticed his libido was low, which led to his inability to perform in the sack. So extreme was his lack of arousal that his girlfriend at the time almost left him.

"My confidence as a man went down the drain, and it was at such a young age," he reminisces. "I'm a positive person in general but not being able to perform takes a toll on you."

Image: Mashable, Miles Goscha

Tsetis, who studied engineering at the time in Amsterdam, said he couldn't sleep. The thought of hair loss and his sex life affected his studies.

"Confidence is your everything and if you cannot perform in bed when you attract people, the feeling for men is devastating," he says.

The girlfriend ended up staying with Tsetis, but the Propecia did not. In the end, the model found that the risks were just too overbearing to handle. It was only after hearing about the class action suit against the drug in Canada, where men claimed it made them permanently impotent, that he took measures into his own hands.

It was a breaking point for him three years ago when he met his now business partner, Roland Peralta, who worked as COO and CFO at an anti-aging hair shampoo brand.

Image: Mashable, Miles Goscha

"I told him that there were a few natural ingredients that helped with hair loss," Peralta recalls.

The two then came together to create a vitamin supplement called Nutrafol, which contains ingredients that naturally promote hair growth. The entire process took about three years of research and partnering up with various professionals in the medical field to greenlight their product.

The result was a holistic supplement that claims to rebalance damaging hormones in the body, which allows the body to grow hair follicles.

"A lot of men think it's just their genes and they can't do anything about it," says Peralta. "But you can prevent it."

Now sold at hair salons like Warren Tricomi to Rita Hazan, and modeling agencies like Wilhelmina, where Tsetis is signed, the duo is taking the vitamin supplements around the world.

"I feel incredibly blessed that this saved me," says Tsetis.

As for his sex life? Things are good. Tsetis says he's got it back and things have "never been better."

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